Taking a look at the interaction of sports coverage and U.S. culture from the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

NFL wise to condemn Portis' locker-room comments

The NFL quickly distanced itself from comments by NFL player (Washington) Clinton Portis that female reporters in the locker room are "going to want somebody."Portis' statement is so offensive and ridiculous as not to warrant much comment. The problem with these kind of statements, though, is that they perpetuate the "locker-room looker" mythology about female sports reporters, which undermines their ability to be taken seriously as journalists in the sports setting.Portis' comment, related to the harassment of reporter Ines Sainz by New York Jets players over the weekend, is also a timely reminder that perhaps we haven't come as far as we would like to think when it comes to fair treatment of women who cover sports. It was 20 years ago -- almost to the day -- when sports reporter Lisa Olson was accosted by New England football players in a case that would put national attention on the blatant harassment faced by female reporters simply trying to do their jobs.How far have we really come since that case? Incidents like those of Olson -- and, two decades later, Sainz -- and the misunderstandings around them point to the importance of organizations such as AWSM and continuing advocacy for women in the sports workplace. --M. Hardin

Subscribe

About the Center

Contributors

Marie Hardin is an associate professor of journalism and associate director of the Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State University. She teaches a class, "Sports, Media & Society," and directs various research projects.

Malcolm Moran is the inaugural Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society in the College of Communications and director of the Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. In his distinguished and diversified career as a sports journalist, Moran has covered 26 bowl games with national championship implications, 26 men’s basketball Final Fours, 16 World Series, 11 Super Bowls, several NCAA conventions and two Olympic Games. In 2007, Moran was awarded the annual Curt Gowdy Media Award presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame for print journalism.

Erin Whiteside is an assistant professor of Journalism & Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee where she teaches courses in sports journalism and media and diversity. Her research uses feminist approaches to explore the relationship between sports, sports media and culture. Much of her work has specifically critiqued the practices, ethics and culture of sports media workplaces.

Thomas F. Corrigan (T.C.) is a Ph.D. Candidate in Penn State's College of Communications, and has worked as a research assistant on several projects for the Curley Center for Sports Journalism over the past three years. He received his undergraduate and masters degrees from Florida State. His research interests are generally within Critical/Cultural Studies of the Media, with specific interests in Political Economy and Sports & Media. T.C. is currently teaching the College's Sports, Media, & Society course.

Melanie Formentin is a 1st year Ph.D. student in Penn State's College of Communications and a research assistant in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. She received undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on strategic sports communications, with a particular interest in the NHL's branding and communication strategies.

Lori Shontz, a senior editor at The Penn Stater alumni magazine and an adjunct instructor of journalism, spent more than 17 years as an award-winning sports writer and editor for the Petersburg Progress-Index, The (Wilkes-Barre) Times Leader, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Miami Herald. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Penn State, she wrote her honors thesis on the beginning of women's varsity sport at the University.

Bu Zhong is an assistant professor of journalism and senior research fellow of the Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State University. His research covers decision making, social networking, media ethics and judgment in news and sports information use. His research has been published in Journal of Communication and International Journal of Sports Communication. His professional experience includes working more than 10 years for CNN Washington Bureau in D.C., CNN Center in Atlanta, and China Daily in Beijing.

Dunja Antunovic is a second-year Ph.D. student in the College of Communications. She comes to Penn State from DePaul University where she obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Journalism with a certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies while playing on the university’s women’s tennis team and coaching for two years. Dunja uses feminist theoretical frameworks in her research focusing on gender representation, Title IX coverage and the construction of bodies in sports media.

Brett Sherrick is a second-year Ph.D. student in the College of Communications and research assistant with the Center for Sports Journalism. He completed an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Comm. at UNC-Chapel Hill and a masters degree in English at UNC-Wilmington. His research interests are in understanding the convergence of strategic communication and journalism in different arenas of entertainment, particularly sports and video games.

Steve Bien-Aime is a second-year Ph.D. student in the College of Communications. He received bachelor’s degrees in journalism, political science and economics in 2004 from Penn State. After graduation, he worked at The News Journal in Delaware starting as a news copy editor, and later writing a business column and serving as night online update editor. He next went to The Baltimore Sun where he served as a sports copy editor. Following that, he moved on to FOXSports.com in Los Angeles where he was the boxing/mixed martial arts editor and later deputy NFL editor.